15 Biggest Cheating Scandals in Sporting History Ranked by AI

· GiveMeSport

15 Biggest Cheating Scandals in Sporting History Ranked by AI - Man City 2nd.

With Manchester City expected to be found guilty of almost all 115 of their financial rule breaches, the long and winding history of corruption in sport may have a shocking new chapter to add to its collection.

With rival clubs reportedly seeking significant compensation , talk of relegation and Premier League expulsion, and the stripping of titles won during the 2009-2018 period of investigation, the anticipated guilty verdict is beginning to look like the tip of this scandalous iceberg.

But how does City's financial rule breach scandal compare to some of the biggest cheating sagas in the history of sport? In an attempt to answer that difficult question, we've asked AI tool ChatGPT to list and rank the 15 biggest cheating scandals in sporting history.

Biggest Cheating Scandals in Sporting History 15th-11th

15 New England Patriots – Spygate American Football > "The Patriots were disciplined after the NFL determined that team employees illegally videotaped opposing coaches' signals from an unauthorised location."

14 Spanish Paralympic basketball scandal Paralympic sport > "At the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, Spain's intellectually disabled basketball team was exposed after most of the squad were found not to have the claimed intellectual disability. The scandal had major consequences for the classification system."

13 Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan affair Figure skating > "Kerrigan was attacked shortly before the 1994 Olympics in a plot involving Harding's former husband and associates. Harding was subsequently banned from competitive figure skating after the investigation."

12 Diego Maradona/Argentina – "Hand of God" Football > "Maradona deliberately handled the ball to score against England at the 1986 World Cup. Unlike several cases above, this was an individual on-field infringement rather than an organised cheating scheme."

11 Pete Rose Baseball > "Rose received a lifetime ban from baseball after MLB determined that he had bet on baseball games, including games involving his own team while managing."

> AI Reasoning: "The NBA referee admitted betting on games he officiated and providing information to gamblers, resulting in a prison sentence and a lifetime NBA ban. "

In 2007, Tim Donaghy, who had officiated in the NBA since 1994, resigned from his role after reports of an FBI investigation into allegations that he had bet on matches that he had officiated during the previous two seasons. Donaghy's calls during the period had been found to affect the point spread of those fixtures. The disgraced official later admitted to betting on games he refereed during the 2003/04, 2004/05, 2005/06, and 2006/07 seasons. He was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison.

> AI Reasoning: "MLB found that the Astros used a system involving electronic equipment and live game feeds to decode opposing teams' signs during their 2017 championship season."

After allegations from other teams, the Houston Astros were discovered to have used a video camera system to steal signs from opposing teams from 2017 to 2018. The scandal came to public light in late 2019, when a former Astros pitcher, Mike Fiers, told The Athletic about the team management's deceitful activities. MLB issued the maximum $5 million to the Astros, but controversially, they were not stripped of their 2017 World Series championship title.

> AI Reasoning: "The 2006 Italian football scandal involved manipulation of referee appointments and other sporting-integrity violations. Juventus were relegated and stripped of two Serie A titles."

The shocking scandal involved several Italian clubs, but the most prominent ones investigated were Juventus , AC Milan , Fiorentina, and Lazio. Transcripts from phone taps were key to the guilty verdict, as key figures in Italian football were found to be pressuring referees to favour certain clubs. All the teams involved received heavy points deductions, with Fiorentina and Lazio banned from European competition and AC deducted a further 30 points from their 2005/06 season. But Juventus were hit the worst; they received a 9-point deduction, were relegated to Serie B, stripped of their 2004/05 Serie A title, and dropped to bottom of the 2005/06 table.

> AI Reasoning: "Jones won five medals at the 2000 Olympics before admitting to using performance-enhancing drugs; her Olympic medals were subsequently stripped. The wider BALCO scandal implicated numerous elite athletes."

The BALCO scandal involved many professional athletes who were using drugs to enhance their performance. One of the most famous athletes linked to the scandal was Marion Jones, the highly-decorated Olympic track athlete . Jones was supplied with the banned substances ahead of her dominant 2000 Olympic campaign. She denied the allegations for years before finally confessing in federal court in 2007.

> AI Reasoning: "Johnson won the 100m at the 1988 Seoul Olympics in a world-record 9.79 seconds before testing positive for stanozolol. His gold medal and world record were removed."

Only three days after his world-record-setting display in Seoul, Johnson tested positive for stanozolol and was stripped of his Olympic gold. After a two-year ban, Johnson returned to athletics but tested positive for steroids again in 1993. The IAAF handed him a lifetime ban. It is often viewed as the scandal that changed the face of athletics.

> AI Reasoning: "Investigations uncovered extensive manipulation of anti-doping controls and organised doping involving Russian athletes and sporting authorities."

When WADA uncovered the Russia doping programme, it was estimated to have impacted over 1,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes across the summer and winter games between 2011 and 2015. It was eventually revealed that steroid-tainted urine samples from Russian athletes were being switched with clean samples by anti-doping officials in Sochi. During the period in question, the majority of banned athletes competed in athletics, with just one of Russia's 68 athletics athletes being cleared of doping.

> AI Reasoning: "A systematic state-sponsored doping programme subjected athletes to performance-enhancing drugs, particularly anabolic steroids, for decades."

Taking place from the 1960s to the 1990s, it was estimated that the East German state administered the drugs to over 10,000 athletes. The programme propelled East Germany to longstanding Olympic success, but the impact on athletes was unprecedented. Child athletes were injected with steroids and hormones to aid performance, leading to illness and disability later in life.

> AI Reasoning: "Eight White Sox players were banned for life after being implicated in deliberately throwing the World Series in exchange for money."

The MLB scandal led to widespread changes in American baseball. The National Baseball Commission, the governing body at the time, was completely dissolved in 1920 and Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was appointed as first commissioner of baseball, holding the position until his death in 1944. Landis banned the eight White Sox players from professional baseball and helped to restore confidence in the sport.

> AI Reasoning: "An independent commission has reportedly found City guilty of 114 of 115 Premier League financial-rule charges. The allegations span years of financial reporting and related regulatory requirements. The process is not yet finally concluded because an appeal is expected."

Covering the seasons from 2009 to 2018, the club have been accused of tampering with financial data as well as failing to cooperate with their investigators. Whilst a punishment has yet to be confirmed , points deductions, league expulsion, relegation, and the removal of titles are all possible sanctions that could be handed to the eight-time Premier League winners.

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